Full Spectrum Radio Transmitter/Receiver?
Is there really such a thing as a full spectrum radio? Like it can transmit and receive from all radio frequencies? If not, what radio would be considered to have the broadest spectrum?
Is there really such a thing as a full spectrum radio? Like it can transmit and receive from all radio frequencies? If not, what radio would be considered to have the broadest spectrum?
Comments
A small number of such radios exist, mostly receivers. They omit cell phone frequencies as required by law in the US and other places. As percival says, there's an issue with getting an antenna to match the radio over the entire spectrum. It's completely impractical to attempt to use such a radio over the whole spectrum without selecting different antennas. There are some very wideband antennas out there such as a log periodic. But you just won't get an antenna made for 100kHz to match the radio or be effective at 1GHz. Whole spectrum transmitters are typically reserved for military or government use and not available for sale to the general public. Receivers are available readily. They are crazy expensive.
The AOR AR-Alpha for example covers from 10kHz to 3.3GHz.
http://www.aorusa.com/aralpha.html
Spectrum Transmitter
Hutton has it pretty well tagged. The simple answer is NO. There are receivers that can cover a wide range of frequencies, but not transceivers. There are just too many services in the so called radio spectrum, each with their own designated slot and license requirements to make a single unit practical, or even legal. For example, there are so called CB radios that have the capability to operate on AM, FM and SSB on frequencies well out of the normal legal 40 channels. Many even go well in to the 10 meter Ham band. There operation out of band IS NOT LEGAL, and though ol' Fox Charlie ( the FCC ) is underfunded they do nab violators and the fines can be heavy. We pretty well police our bands and take the necessary steps to stop offenders.
Yes - there is such a thing now: HackRFone both transmits and receives from DC (with downconverter) all the way through 100mhz (native) to 6ghz (native), and many others exist now too. It s software-defined, so you can use any kind of modulation you like.
If you only need reception, most SDR USB adapters cover almost all the spectrum.
Pointless, since the antenna would need to be resized for each band.
Then, there is the incredible expense of putting in the various tuning components to be switched for each band.
After that, there is also the licensing for using certain bands.
And then, there's still the prohibition of most people from even using certain bands.
Does that sound like a NO? I just figured it was better than putting down a two-letter answer.